The room shook, like an explosion rocked it from above.

The shaking isn't what woke Jack, though. It was the noise.

"What the hell is that racket?!" he shouted as he sat up and promptly hit his head on the bench attached to the wall behind him.

As he looked around the small room, he slowly realized where he was. Not curled up in his own bed, arms snug around his wife – like he was dreaming of. Nope. Back in his luxury suite in Ba'al's pleasure palace.

Crap. Now how the hell…? Huh. It suddenly dawned on him as he tried to figure everything out. He knew this place, no doubt about that. He remembered everything that had happened to him here, absolutely.

But he couldn't seem to…well…feel anything about it.

Sure, he remembered how he used to feel about it. But now…bupkis.

"Huh." He looked around the room again, noting the two Jaffa on guard at the door. "Well…still don't see a reason to hang out."

He slowly got up and crept to the door, as carefully, quietly, and painlessly as his knees would allow. He got right behind one guard, took a breath, and then swung around to punch him in the nose. As that guard went down, Jack grabbed his staff weapon and swung it, knocking out the other guard.

"Ha," he laughed, admiring his handiwork. "Yup. Still got it."

And then something else clicked in his head.

"Ellie."

He looked back in the small room before moving down the hall to find her. All the while pushing back thoughts of where she could be.

What the snaky bastard could be doing to her.

Fear was finally starting to inch its way in, but was quickly being conquered by anger.

If he touches a single curl on that girl's head…

He paused in the hallway. Curls? Last time he'd seen her, her hair was pulled back, braided. There weren't curls…

Or I am thinking of the other last time. She was headed into town to pick up dinner, her hair bouncing around her head as she made her way out the door…

He saw the image clearly, but couldn't quite place it. Again, just like before, he couldn't understand why he was remembering something he was sure had never happened…

He shook away the thoughts, continuing down the hallway. As he neared a corner, he heard footsteps coming quickly towards him. He crouched down behind a pillar, as far as he could. As the footsteps reached him, he swung out with the staff weapon and connected with at least one kneecap, if not both.

"Jack?!" came the startled, pain ridden screech from his would-be assailant.

"Ellie!" He jumped to his feet and pulled her into his arms. "Thank god!" He released her, pushing her to arm's length so he could look her over. "You okay?!" he asked frantically, searching for telltale rips or burns.

"I'm…I'm fine," she responded hesitantly, giving him a questioning look. "Well, aside from the shattered kneecap."

He caught her gaze sheepishly.

"Sorry. Thought you were a goon." He continued to stare, his face moving from embarrassment to elated joy and relief. "Thought I lost you –" he stopped himself. Again?

They stared at each other quizzically as another explosion rocked the base.

"That'll be Yu…" Jack said, peering at the ceiling.

Ellie, in turn, peered back in the direction from where she'd come, but swung back to stare at Jack, startled.

"How'd you know?"

"Happened last time." He turned to find her looking confused. "Last time I was here, Lord Yu bombed the place. That's how I got out."

"Oh. Great. Well…let's go then."

"But how?"

"Well, like you did last time." She went to start down the hall, but Jack stopped her.

"This isn't real…right?"

"No," she reassured him. "It's just memories."

"You can't get out of a memory…" He was starting to falter again, looking at her fearfully.

Not fearing for himself, she realized that now.

He feared for her.

"We get out just like you did last time." She gripped his shoulders, trying to get him to focus. "Jack…it's just a trick. An illusion. You are in control of it. Think it through. Yu started attacking. You got out your cell. What next?" He blinked, still dazed. "Think Jack! What did you do next?"

Blink. Blink.

"The girl. I got the girl – Shallan."

"Girl? Nice…okay – girl." A flash and blur of Jack and a young pixie of a girl running through the hallway. "Check. What next?"

"We made our way out of the base, into the woods outside."

Another flash and they were there, surrounded by trees. They could just make out the blue glow of the stargate through the low branches.

Ellie turned to grin at him.

"See. Easy." She took his hand and pulled him towards the gate.

As they reached the platform and made their way up the stairs, Jack felt his previous calm returning.

It was easy.

"Huh."

But as he walked into the waiting wormhole, he couldn't help the small gnawing feeling in the back of his head that he was missing something.

"Seriously guys. What's the problem?"

Sam heard the voice come through the speakers, routed up from the gateroom, as she made her way into the command center. She knew what to expect from Cam's phone call, knew even more when she heard Janet questioning the security team.

But she was still shocked when she peered through the window into the gateroom and found Martouf looking back up at her.

Sure, she'd seen them before. Just like Cam, she remembered the incident involving fourteen different Carters parading around the SGC.

But it still stung. Hurt then. Hurt now.

It hurt more when she realized Martouf was looking at her just as shocked as she felt. He reached blindly over to get Janet's attention away from the security team. When she swung around to question him, he simply pointed up at Sam.

Janet caught Sam's gaze and looked like she would collapse with shock. She gripped Martouf's arm to steady herself before making an attempt at barging through the guards to the door.

Sam decided to make her way to Janet instead. She practically marched into the gateroom, ordering the guards to stand down. As soon as they backed off, Janet nearly leaped at her, dragging her into a fierce hug.

"Sam! Oh my god, Sam! I don't believe it!"

"Neither do I, to be honest." She couldn't help but return the hug, as well as the tears she knew were falling from her friend's eyes.

"Oh Sam…god I've missed you!" Janet sniffled, pushing back to arm's length, hands still clasped on Sam's forearms.

"Janet…" Martouf cautioned.

"Don't," she threw back. "I know. But, just for a few minutes, I'm not going to care."

Sam peered at her friend, seeing the joy and sadness crossing her face just as surely as she knew it was crossing her own.

Who knows how long this will last… How long we'll get before the universe rights itself…

Martouf seemed to relent, flashing Sam a sorrowful smile.

Sam hated to think she knew why they were so sad at the sight of her. But if the theory about Ellie was right, she was fairly certain where her two friends had come from.

Well…there is a way to find out…

"Not that it's not good to see you – both of you; but, any idea on how you got here? What were you doing?" She looked from Martouf to Janet, and suddenly regretted the question. Her friend looked ready to completely break down with regret.

"Oh Sam! I'm sorry! We don't know what happened. She just went out on a completely normal errand. Simple, easy trip. She'd done it dozens of times. But she always insisted on going alone. So stubborn! Just like her father." She was rambling, oblivious to the fact Sam may very well not know what she was talking about.

But that didn't keep Sam from laughing.

The laugh died though as she realized the vague story the had was proving to gain more and more credence.

Where that gets us though…

But then, something else clicked.

"Oh. My. God. The last time you were here… I asked you…we asked where I was…and you said…you said…"

"You were on maternity leave." Janet smiled. The smile faded to a look of curiosity. "Sam…?"

"General!" Walter called down from the control room just as Sam opened her mouth to respond. She looked up and saw Carolyn waving down at her.

"Jack's awake."

Sam looked back to Janet and Martouf, momentarily flustered. She gave up trying to think.

"Come with me."